A. Field
The invention relates to an apparatus for processing bank notes, and in particular a compensation unit for adapting the bank-note stock of an apparatus for accepting and dispensing bank notes. Furthermore the invention relates to a system for accepting, storing and dispensing bank notes with this compensation unit as well as a method for adapting the bank-note stock.
B. Related Art
From DE 10 2004 024 620 A1 a bank-note recycling apparatus is known which has one or several pockets for depositing false or suspicious bank notes and several cassettes for temporarily storing the bank notes accepted as authentic. Bank notes of different denominations can be kept available in the respective cassettes separately from each other for later dispensing.
In addition to their use in the banking sector, recycling apparatus are increasingly also used in the cash offices of retailers. Despite the possibility of accepting and storing cash money and dispensing money for money-changing actions or refilling cash registers, recycling apparatus are unbalanced relatively quickly. A lack of bank notes of small denominations occurs rapidly. The reason for this is that at the cash desks very frequently bank notes of large denominations are paid in and in return small denominations are given as change, which are then missing also in the recycling apparatus after emptying the cash registers. In order to keep the recycling apparatus in balance and to thus run it in an economically sensible manner in the first place, bank notes of small denominations have to be fed manually very frequently on a daily basis—representing both a security risk and a high time and cost expenditure.